The Divorce

After years of using Shimano SPD's and the East Cup Kingston Mud trot it came to a head that enough was enough. No longer could the barely working in claggy mud that would be better described as something a potter would use to make a clay bowl. It comes to that point that it becomes self abuse to continue using something that just simply after being carefully measure to be found wanting.

I mean if you look at the pic just of the front chain ring you get a picture of the situation.

 The pedals barely held the cleats. The clay is still in there days later. Sorry, Shimano you are out of time. You may work great in the rain forests of Cascadia with it's mud of decayed leaves and such. But when confronted by clay you leave much to be desired. And coming up short is no longer acceptable.

 So you have been dumped from the Mistress as no longer do we feel the love for Shimano SPD's. You have become like that moment of waking up and sobriety has finally arrived and you can't get outta there fast enough.

Time has shown that they will not come up wanting when it comes to Ontario Claggy Mud. And are now on the Cross bike as well as the Mistress. No longer will I be cursing Shimano for the failures in the mud.

 Shimano..good bye and good riddance. Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

Clunk Salad

Today managed to get in two trail rides as things worked out to that benefit. So both where out at CB trails. No pictures from this mornings ride.

Finally Crappy Post delivered my second Tulbag though it is not to be used for tools. It is so I can carry all those other important things like ID's, bank card, and money. And not spend time digging for it. Plus I never really have used a wallet.

 Later it was time for the second ride out at CB. I wanted to finish checking out a couple of new sections of trail that I didn't have time for during the morning session.

 Nature has walled in the Beeratorium with foliage so it almost hides one from the dog walkers around you.

 During the ride I kept hearing a weird faint almost clunking noise from my rear hub. So  let's pull it all apart to fix so I can get a ride in tomorrow.

Hmm..bearings are still good but it seems there is a bit of play in the drive side. Easily fixed.

 Back together and on the bike. All done in about half an hour. Yep workshops are good.

East Cup Cornwall May 11th

Saturday was the Cornwall edition of the East Cup put on by Dan Marshall of Substance Projects.

 And those of us in the Comp race, the three of us car pooled up to Charlottenburgh Forest. The drive up wasn't looking promising as it alternated between heavy rain and no rain. So it kind of felt like heading into a repeat of the Kingston race...mud festivus. But when we arrived it was just wet grass and instead of mud we would be having fun with wet roots. Being a BC raised rider wet roots are fun.

  After Dan's usual low key call up. It was off for the 3 laps of 5k.  First first bit up the quad track and small hill went well. Actually started out a little faster this time and by the hill was clear further up the field. Then into the singletrack which was fun and had some good flow. Pace was good and despite the usual small hiccups as those who get squirrelly in the tech cause the accordian effect. Unfortunately one of these incidents at about the 10% through the course cased me to get my bar caught in a tree. Which caused my left brake lever to pop off.

 Discovered this on a bit of downhill and stopped to fiddle for 15 seconds. Gave up and tried to catch back up to what turned out to be the 3rd place guy. Which became a chore as I found it challenging to find the flow with only a rear brake. Mental block. Took the rest of the 1st and second laps to finally get it.

  Negative split the 3rd lap. Even caught the third place guy but lost him again as we lapped a 12 year old kid still on his second lap as he got hung up on some roots and went down hard. Made sure he was okay then tried to catch back up. Never did and it turns out missed the podium by 15 seconds. Ironically the same amount of time I fiddled on the first lap with my brake.

This is small mechanical cost 15 seconds.

Zee Beaver

Just another weekend of spring and sunshine. And trying out a new pedal system as I have officially filed for divorce from Shimano when it comes clip pedals.

 Saturday rest stop at the Beeratorium post work on Saturday. Bit of lunch and sunshine.

 A buddy lent me his Time Alium pedals to try out as I decided it was time to dump the Shimano of fail. After they clagged up nicely in the East Cup I decided it is time for a change as they came up a bit wanting.

Sunday ride out at the farm with nothing but trails and sunshine.

And the company of the local eager Beaver .

Smorgasbord

It's a delivery from the UK's On One Bikes that arrived via the always entertaining services of Canada Post.

 I needed to get another tire so I could save the 2.2 Mountain King for the more muddy times of year. But as is always the goal of Team NFI cutting costs is the big deal. After reading the reviews in Singletrack Mag and 29 Inches . While yes it is a 29er site Guitar Ted does a good job on reviewing stuff. Plus the bonus is the soil is much closer to what I have here in Ontario. Claggy clay that when it is wet and muddy really doesn't fall away like BC type dirt. So that is a good thing.

For the Mistress of course it is in 26" size and is of the folding bead variety and in a 62a compound for your pleasure.  Initially when I looked at it at I kind of thought it was a little small. But after mounting and inflating it to riding pressure I was happy to see I was wrong. 

So far only one ride tonight on it and no problems at this point to report. Though will have more later on after a few weeks more of riding and the East Cup Cornwall race on it.